Elusive, exclusive…espresso

For the better part of my life, I have had a major beat down courtesy if espresso. I will now take you for a journey that will not necessarily answer questions, nor enlighten you in anyway but hopefully bring you some amusement.

I have been a serious coffee enthusiast for almost three years now. What drew me to the realm of coffee smut I do not know but for me the velvet texture of precision steaming opened my eyes to specialty coffee obsession.
I feel that it is easier to become excited about things such as glistening textured milk and latte art than about intense, Bruce Lee powerful espresso. That makes the first step of serious coffee drinking made up of lattes, mochas and frivolous things like that. Next comes the cappucino or the macchiato. Finally is the espresso, the step that some people never get to but is the things most coffeenuts go nuts about.
Alright so we’ve finally gotten to espresso and you take your first sip and maybe you’re thinking…”what is this feeling???”
It kicked my ass first time around (and probably the next 50 times) but I kept going back for more. To be honest I don’t think I could taste anything but raw intensity until maybe some time this year, almost 2.5 years after I got “seriously” into coffee. But all those experiences of drinking espresso without knowing what the hell I was drinking got me to this place, a place where I think I can finally appreciate it. Now the aromatics, the body, the lingering finish, the origin is something I can evaluate and distinguish.

This makes me wonder: am I slow?? Is that why it took me so long to develop?? Or: I’d espresso is so elusive, and so exclusive what are these people tasting when they first try espresso??

I don’t think that true espresso appreciation occurs until you taste the complexities of the drink and also understands the complexities involved in the preparation where the barista battles all the variables out to destroy your quest for espresso perfection.
Espresso, you have stolen my youth.

Final words:
I don’t think there is such thng as a god shot. What you thought was a god shot is synonymuously known as a fluke.

Had an amazing espresso from work. Has to be my most favourite coffee we’ve had and can be described as passionfruit custard.

First post completely done on iPhone. I’m proud of this.

Baristas! Please make espresso as approachable as you can. Be knowledgable and impart that knowledge.

A Mini Calgary Cafe Crawl

Today, several of us from the cafe went on a short, downtown cafe crawl.  For the uninformed, a cafe crawl is like a pub crawl, but replace alcoholic drinks with coffee, scantily clad women with business suited men, the party bus with human legs, and clubs with cafes.

 

Sounds AWESOME, doesn’t it?

 

Anyways, Calgary’s coffee scene has really blown up over the last couple years, with many ‘3rd wave’ shops now open.  Because of the locations of some of these cafes, I hadn’t been able to get to some, meaning I was eager to go and sample what the city’s new coffee purveyors had to offer.

 

Bright and early, I found myself at  Insomnia Coffee, located in the famous Burns building right next door to the Epcor Center for the Performing Arts.  In my opinion, this is a killer space as it is easily accessible to the morning business crowd, c-train commuters, and evening pre/post Epcor show crowd.  The space is clean, classy and deliberate.  The coffee… to be honest, it left something to be desired.  Unfortunately, all their cup sizes have not yet arrived, and as such, cappuccinos and macchiatos are served in 8 oz ACFs.  The coffee is supplied by Fratello, and while I cannot comment on on their brewed coffee (which I believe is done via French Press), I’m most certain the espresso is Joel May’s 2008 competition blend.  The reason I say it left something to be desired was that the espresso had several positive elements that I think were overshadowed by several negative aspects.  I think with a little more dialing on their LaMarzocco GB5, the espresso pulled could be pretty tasty.  I was getting notes of berries, spice, caramel and dark chocolate, which made for a potentially interesting shot, even amidst some of the negatives.  Unfortunately, several complaints across the table dealt with the milk quality as well.  Hopefully we caught them on a bad day and this was just an anomaly.

 

Next, we headed down to DeVille located upstairs in Art Central.  DeVille, an Intelligentsia account, also serves Saint German pastries and food, as well as a small wine and beer selection.  This cafe has stunning whites, reds and blacks coating the furniture of their contemporary, edgy cafe design.  This cafe (2009 Krups Kup of Excellence winner) serves up Black Cat ’spro on its Synesso/Anfirm/Robur combo.  Espressos, macchiatos, and cappuccinos were ordered by us all, in addition to some snacks.  The espresso was an improvement over Insomniac’s.

Where the major disappointment came was in the food ordered.  Personally, I had ordered an aged cheddar,Dijon, egg and bacon breakfast sandwich, and Mike had a blueberry / white chocolate scone.  Before I even sat down, the sandwich had finished heating and was brought to me wrapped in white food/wax paper, on a white plate. Being perfectly honest, the sandwich was only marginally better than a mcmuffin at the golden arches (and sure reminded me of one).  At $3.50, this is no bank breaker, but I expected slightly more deliberate food from a Saint German kitchen.  Mike’s scone also tasted slightly doughy and almost undercooked as well.  Again, I hope that this was just an anomaly, and we had caught DeVille on a bad day.  (Unfortunately, I had a papery dry lemon loaf at the other location months previous.)  They do serve up a mean shortbread, though, and I’ve heard that their alcoholic offerings and snacks are great value and quality.

*

Overall, this mornings crawl…left something to be desired.  I think it’s great that these new shops have popped up and have started to show the masses that coffee does not have to be mundane, tim hortons quality swill.  However, I think what some shops are doing is being really great supporters of quality coffee, yet not living up to their standards when executing.  If you are championing quality coffee with premium prices, why settle for average drink quality coming off the bar?  I think this is a dilemma that many 3rd Wave shops are dealing with, including ours.  Opening a shop with premium coffee, equipment and design does not equal a premium product!  I think today was a great reminder to all that it all comes down to the drink quality we hand out over the counter – we should only be satisfied with giving a customer a drink that we have tried our utmost best (considering the situation) to produce.  If not, we aren’t doing coffee a favor.  People may start wondering why they are paying higher prices for a product that is only marginally better than a much cheaper, widely available alternative.  I also think what may be missing in this equation is passion.  I think there is a difference between a barista-opened shop, and any other shop.  If there is a pure passion for the product, there is inherently more care…and you can just ‘feel’ it and definitely taste it in the drink.  Thoughts?

I understand there is a consideration for feasibility, and by no means does this post harbor critisizing opinions, just some personal thoughts inspired by today’s experiences.  I’d like to see more pure, barista opened cafe’s that are driven to push the envelope, not just ride the 3rd wave to economic success.  It’s great what’s happening in Calgary and one can only hope that new shops will start springing up to elevate the way coffee is seen in this city.

 

 

*we also may or may not have gone to another shop in which I may or may not comment.

 

Organic

In the coffee world, the words “organic”, “fair trade”, “rain forest alliance” really hold no bearing to the quality of the bean. Therefore although these things may sound nice to the customer, it really doesn’t taste any different. It’d be really awesome if I could drink a cup and say “Mmmmmmmm I can really taste the shade in this shade-grown coffee” but I really can’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, it seems to me that there’s a different attitude in regards to ORGANIC food. “Mmmmmmm this organic carrot TASTES less chemically” Doesn’t seem like a statement that is too far off ay?

Why?

I think that for the most part produce really do es taste better as organics because their essence is preserved. What I mean is that the carrot  is more carrotty than a GMO mega-carrot, or a DDT-infused bite-free carrot. Maybe its because we convince ourselves before eating that “surely organic tastes better”. Studies have shown that there really isn’t a discernible taste difference.

Maybe:

- the food is eaten when

it should be eaten (it’s more perishable and not preserved)

- the pesticides really do affect the palate

- the produce is smaller in size and therefore more concentrated in taste

I dunno.

Anyways, my question is why is there a per

ceived idea that organic food is tastier whereas in coffee it is not?

Is it because there is so many things that affect quality of cup that the organic process is essentially negligible?

What?

Vancouver Coffee

Vancouver is a coffee city. We drink coffee in Calgary. There is coffee culture in Sydney and Melbourne. But this past week in Vancouver was the first time I had a REAL coffee and experienced a REAL coffee community.

The Australian coffee experience to me was impersonal and in general displeasing. The coffee scene in Calgary is young, budding and therefore sparse. To me, the Vancouver scene was surprising and satisfying. I met a lot of cool people last week who were all in the coffee business. They were all buddies and even though they worked for different companies, they got along just fine. Now I think that what makes Vancouver’s scene work is the fact there are actual places to crawl to. I went to Crema, 49th, Elysian, JJ and new Wicked. There are a few more places that I could have gone to but these places were interesting and substantial enough.

Each cafe has a different vibe. Wicked is small and personal. 49th is chic and modern. Crema is chillin’ and had amazing atmosphere. Elysian was homey.

Each cafe has different combo of coffee to offer. Wicked … Intelli. 49th … 49th on Mirage, siphon, press. Crema had JJ, Ritual, Stumps, and more depending on the week. Elysian had special roast from 49th and SPARKLING WATER!!

There is such a rich variety of coffee choices and different people trying to represent different aspects of coffee that they personally believe in. I can only hope that Calgary gets to this point, and even bombs past this.

CNBC 2009: #4 (In my defense for the love of Mariah)

Much has changed (I’d say for the better) in my attitudes towards coffee competition. Initially I thought that barista comps and such things had nothing to do with the actual day-to-day experience of coffee. As I went through the process I eventually got to look deeper into what the competition has to offer. Things such as professionalism, making every shot of espresso “count”, passion for coffee, knowledge of coffee and community are easily transferable to the daily grind of the coffee professional.

Finally, Mariah. I’m not going to say it …

Guinness World Record.

Canadian National Barista Championship: #3

There is an update. The live feed of this years Canadian barista championship is going to be available here: http://events.startcast.com/events6/340/C0004/Default.aspx

A rough estimate of time.

Ben is fifth. Approximately 1040 am.
Mike is 14 th. Approximately at 305 pm.

We really don’t care about anyone else do we.

Canadian National Barista Championships: #2

Preparation is TEDIOUS!

Last week I spent a fair amount of time sorting out my competition coffee after the roast. Looking for quakers (bad beans that add bitterness) and picking them out. Also looking for general bad beans that I think will ruin my coffee for whatever reason. I may have gotten a little crazy because a few hours into sorting, I was chucking out “bad” beans simply because I didn’t like the way it looked. Anyways, about 5 hours later, I had 5 pounds of competition coffee sorted out and bagged, ready for nationals. Woohoo!

Then I sorted out the rest of the roast for practice sessions. That was probably another 2 hours of sorting. If I had to sort for a living…I may just jump off a cliff or something like that because I was SO drained.

I'm not quite as happy as these people while sorting

Man is it a long, arduous process. In-house competition was mid-August, regionals was mid-September, and now nationals are mid-October. This makes 3 months worth of preparation or thinking about preparation. It is draining. One of the things I’m thinking about during these prep times is what to change, what to keep the same and what to tweak ever so slightly. For noobs like me, I find that these past three months has been a STEEP learning curve and it’s pretty cool. Huge progression. Huge knowledge gaining. Hugeness. Each comp is like a new one I’m preparing for and not really a continuation from the comp previous.

Anyways, can’t wait to get to Vancouver. Can’t wait until its all over and we’re all partying.

How many tampers do you own?

Andrew Legg kept pimping this question out at the Prairie Regional Barista Championships 2009. How many do you own? At that time I owned none. After getting a participants tampy from Mr. Tamper himself, Reg Barber, I can proudly say 1.

An article popped up on what I’d say the illest coffee blog as of late cleanhotdry. They topic on hand was tamping and the basics of coffee. I totally agree that baristas tend to put more attention into tamping where the benefits are not always evident. However with my new toy came some new ideas and curiousity. What is the difference between all these tampers and why, if it really doesn’t matter that much are there so many different products?

Tamper Basics

from http://www.coffeetamper.com/english/products.asp

Essentially, the purpose of tamping is to create an even puck so that the pressurized water extracts the coffee puck as equally as possible. This is about as technical as I will (and am able to) get.

So taking a C-Flat tamper as loot from PRBC and experimenting with it I did. Not too much info is available on the internet but I did stumble upon a blog that helped…somewhat. (check out espressorun)

Essentially what I did was this:

To combat evil channels around the rims, I did first (leveller) tamp with the C-flat to try and push some coffee around the edges. Then switch to a smaller (I used euro curve, would be interested to see what a flat would do) and then staubed it with a North, South, East, West. I found on my wet pucks that my seal was pretty much solid each time. :S

What does this mean?

Don’t really notice any difference between my shots with this method and not using this method.
I guess that cleanhotdry was right, tamping don’t matter much.

Canadian National Barista Championships: #1

Apparently the journey is not over.

I’m not going to say citrus…

Almond cherry. That’s the notes of our Brazil Fazenda do Sertão and Costa Rica Finca la Margarita espresso blend.

Some longer quibbs about the PRBC 2009 and competition as a whole. Here’s the money statement:

Must go in with a learning attitude

This statement applies to both 1st time competitors as well as 100th time competitors (a la Sammy). From the beginning, the bosses took me under their wing to shed words of wisdom. Drawing upon past successes and failures to shape my routine and practicing for the competition. I think that this was highly beneficial and sky rocketted me to a level where I could never have reached if I had trained alone.

Always learn. Learn from your own competitions and dry runs. Watch video. Now the trend seems to be ustream videos of the regional competitions. Watch other baristas and take the good and leave the bad for your own routine.

Learn because at the competitions, you gain respect for others in the industry. Almost all the baristas I came across at the Prairies were super nice and excited about coffee. They all have something different about them so jack those different skills and use it for your own.

Alright, let’s get a little personal. I just wanted to thank everyone at the shop for their support. Also the people at the event from other cafes/roasteries for their kind words and encouragement after my wet run. It means a lot to me and those are the things I will look back fondly of. Thanks the P&S for the support and coaching. Thanks Benny for training and practicing with me… letting me steal ideas and techniques and pretty much everything . Thanks to those who helped during my dry runs, giving me supplies. Thanks for sending messages, twittering and all that jazz.  I’d have to say that for my run at the Prairies… it was way way more of a team effort. Ben did a lot, a lot of things on his own. I, on the other hand, was less … everything and needed everyone to pitch in. I wish I woulda placed better to reflect how awesome my support was and the amazing amouts of effort that was poured in.

As for the outcome? Shoulda, woulda, coulda. There are most definitely things I would have done differently and I could analyze how close I was to getting to nationals but all in all I’m pretty satisfied with how things turned out. It is very much so a bittersweet ending.

Apple cherry!